Watch the very first Taco Bell restaurant being driven on the back of a truck

Taco Bell relocated the first Taco Bell restaurant known as Numero Uno from Downey, CA to Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, CA, and saving it from demolition.
(Taco Bell)

Taco Bell has taken its history and hit the road.

The food fast company's very first restaurant was transported from its original location in Downey, Calif. to the company’s current headquarters in Irvine on Friday.

Last month, the taco chain announced it would be saving its first restaurant --nick named Numero Uno --from demolition and moving the 53-year old building to be preserved. On Friday, a team of movers lifted the building from its cement foundation and moved it via truck 45-miles southeast.

The journey was captured by several onlookers who saw the building being carted down the highway, escorted by a team of six police cars.

A photo posted by We Are the Next (@next_nonprofit) on Nov 19, 2015 at 11:32pm PST

The restaurant was opened in 1962 by founder Glen Bell as a walk-up taco stand with live music and fire pits. It closed in 1986, and other restaurants took over the space until it was emptied last year. Taco Bell is now owned by fast food operator Yum Brands Inc., which is based in Louisville, Kentucky.

"This is arguably the most important restaurant in our company's history," Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement.

The Orange County Register reported that the trip from Downey to Irvine was estimated to take around five hours. But the police-escorted structure, which is about 400-square feet, completed the trip in just over three hours, arriving at Taco Bell headquarters at 1:30 a.m. local time on Friday night.